Machu Picchu - Lima (10)

El Misti
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FERSIWN CYMRAEG ISOD:

So here we are at the end of our trip, with mixed emotions to say the least.

After Machu Picchu, the pace has been decidely slower, and the hotels decidely more luxurious!.  We reluctantly left Cuzco for Arequipa - we really enjoyed Cuzco. It is an amazing looking place with loads to see and do, very cheaply.  We got a very nice overnight bus to Arequipa, I slept like a baby but Ffi didn´t -apparently she was kept awake by a really loud film and a game of Latin America bingo - I awoke for a few minutes and she was looking frantically through the phrase book for the word for "house"!  I told her it was "casa" but it was apparently too late.

Mountain shopping
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We were aware that we were running out of time and we still had things we wanted to see, so upon arrival in Arequipa we booked a Colca Canyon tour for the next day, a bus to Nasca for the evening we arrived back from Colca Canyon and a flight over the Nasca lines at 8am on the morning we arrived in Nasca, and a nice hotel for when it was all finnished!  We worked out we were really going to need to sleep and probably have a shower or two by then.

The Colca Canyon is touted as one of the main sites of Peru.  Its said to be deeper than the Grand Canyon.  This is maybe true, but it is not as striking, as the walls tend to be more like slopes instead of the sheer drop of the walls at Grand Canyon.  We were really looking forward to seeing the much talked about condors that fly over the canyon in the morning - their wingspans are up to 3.2m wides and we could apparently get pretty close.  However due to a previously un-annouced 45min stop to pick up what appeared to be some of the guides family, we were late and saw only a couple of minutes of the great birds.  This as you can imagine is always the risk when booking on cheap tours!  Oh well, at least we can complain better in Spanish now.

Colca Canyon Condors
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Once back in Arequipa we got our overnight bus to Nasca.  We arrived at 5 in the morning and the luxury transfer to our luxury hotel was not there!  We fought off the touts and got to a phone and woke up the night porter who sent a taxi for us- we bearly dropped our bags and it was time for our flight over the lines.  The lines are drawings on a huge dusty plain.  Nobody is sure why they are there, they date back before the birth of christ to the Nasca tribes.  They are obviously drawn to be seen from the air which leads many people to believe they are linked to visitors from outer space - weirdos!

Colca Canyon
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The flights over the lines are notoriously bumpy and lots of people had told us that we`d probably be sick, so with that in mind we jumped into our tiny plane and headed off.  The drawings of spiders, monkeys, an astronaut and other animals became clear only when we were right above them, so this neccessitates the pilot swinging around alot.  The whole experience was amazing and nobody was ill thankfully, even though we did almost do the loop the loop a couple of times.  Once back we relaxed by the pool and raided the chock full beer fridge, obviously to help us sleep.

Monkey
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We then moved onto Huacachina.  This place was a suprise to say the least. Its a tiny town around a desert oasis, the surrounding sand dunes are massive and we decided we had to do one of the dune buggy ride and partake in some sandboarding.  The dune buggy was great, although I lost the ability to hear from the pitch of Ffi´s screaming.  The sand boarding was amazing too as the dunes were so big.  We also took in a tour of the surrounding wineries where the famous Pisco is made.  It was a fun tour and the 3 wineries we visited were very generous with their samples, even at 9am in the morning!

Humming Bird
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And so to Lima.  It´s a very cosmipolitan city, not what we were expecting at all. It looks a lot like a North American city in parts, although there still appears to be no traffic laws.

We fly home later today. Thanks to all of you who we have met along the way, you´ve made our trip all the more enjoyable and we´ll see you all again, there`s always a welcome in the valleys for you!

For those of you at home, were looking forward to getting back and seeing you all again, we hope you have enjoyed the travel updates.

Parrot
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Big love

John and Ffionxx

FERSIWN CYMRAEG YMA:

Roedd hi`n annodd gadael Cuzco. Roedden ni`n hoff iawn or ddinas pert, a roedd cymaint i weld a gwneud yno, ond roedd rhaid brysio ymlaen er mwyn dod i ben a gweld y cyfan yn ein pythefnos ola.  Felly, ymlaen i Arequipa ar y bws nos a cyrraedd Arequipa am 6 y bore.  Mynd yn syth am frecwast a chael y profiad o´n deargryn cyntaf erioed!  Dyna lle oedden ni´n bwyta ein fruit salad, a dymar lle i gyd yn dechrau siglo a pawb yn rhedeg tu allan.  Dim ond am ychydig eiliadau parodd e, a doedd dim difrod, ac o fewn munud roedd pawb nol yn sgwrsio ac yn bwyta eu brecwast.  O gofio ebyst fy nhad yn dweud `paid neud unrhywbeth sili yn dy wythnosau ola´ dyma ni`n penderfynnu bwcio i fynd i Caynyon de Colca a gadael y deargryn ar ein hol, o bosib byddai mwy.

Walk like an egyptian
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Felly ben bore nesa, bant a ni ar fws arall am ddiwrnod cyfan o deithio i mewn ir wlad.  Cyrraedd uchelder o 5000mulm eto a teimlo dim effaith dro yma! Roedd y caynyon yn bert, ond o feddwl faint rydyn ni wedi eu gweld eleni, doedd e ddim yn arbnnig a dim byd i gymharu a´r Grand Caynyon, a gethon ni siom mawr ond i weld ychydig o´r Condors sydd yn hedfan yno bob bore.  Diwrnod cyfan o deithio yn ol i Arequipa, ac yna yn syth ar fws nos arall i Nasca.

Cyrraedd am 5 y bore a mynd i`n gwesty moethus dros ben er mwyn cael cawod cyn ni gael ein codi er mwyn mynd ir maes awyrennau (bach) i ddal ein awyren (llai) er mwyn gweld y llinellau Nazca enwog. Llinellau a lluniau yn y ddaear yn dyddio nol i amser y pobl Nazca 400 mlynedd cyn Crist ydy`r llinellau ac maen`t wedi achosi dryswch i gwyddonwyr erioed.  Does neb yn sicr iawn pam eu bod yno ond mae`n bendant mae o`r awyr maen´t i fod iw cael eu gweld, sy`n gwneud i rhai gredu fod pobl or gofod wedi ymweld a`r ddaear.  Credau eraill mai lluniau i`r Shamen ar ei daith ysbydol ydynt, ac eraill mae i`r Bod Mawr.  Beth bynnag y rheswm, mae`n hollol anhygoel i feddwl eu bod nhw dal yn bodoli, ac mewn cyflwr mor dda.

FFi in Desert
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Ar ol ein taith awyren, dyma ni´n dechrau ar ein ´holiday mode´oedd yn golygu aros mewn gwestai moethus ac bola heuluo am weddill ein amser.  Symudon ni ymlaen i Huacachina, sef pentref pitw ar ymyl llyn bach yng nghanol yr anialwch! Oasis go iawn, a bron neb yno.  Aros yno am bedair noson a gweithio yn galed ar ein tan.  Ymweld a chwpwl o fagdai Pisco a prynnu sawl potel yn ein meddwdod - er mai dim ond 10 or gloch y bore oedd hi!  Mynd ar daith mewn dune bygi a gweld y machlud dros yr anialwch.

Huacachina
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Felly dyma ni yn Lima, pen ein taith.  Rydyn ni wedi gwario pob ceiniog sydd genym ni ar ol ac wedi yfed ein pisco sour ola, ond dwin gobeithio y fedra i ffitio mewn un pryd arall o cerviche cyn gadael.  Mae ein awyren yn gadael heno, ac o bosib, erbyn i chi ddarlllen hwn, y byddwn ni nol ar dir Cymru.  Ry´n ni´n edrych ymlaen at weld pawb eto - mae blwyddyn yn amser hirach nag oeddwn i  yn meddwl.

Diolch yn fawr am eich ebyst - ry´n ni wedi mwyhau cadw mewn cysylltiad - dwi´n credu fy mod i wedi siarad a rhai ohonych yn fwy eleni na wnes i erioed!  Aduniad mawr nol yng Nghymru felly - hwyl am y tro olaf!

John a Ffionxx